Scarlett started to feel guilty for keeping Alex prisoner in her room. She couldn't sleep, and felt a lot of remorse. She decided to confront Hayden about releasing him. Hayden was not convinced.
"He'll go to our aunt and get us in trouble." said Hayden, firmly.
"But what if he doesn't? His intentions seemed honorable." she whined,
Thinking on his feet, Hayden remembered a sappy story he'd read in their mother's dusty cobwebbed library once. "Lettie, have you ever heard of Romeo and Juliet?" he asked.
"No. Is it a good story?"
"It's one of the scariest things I've ever read." he said, weaving a twisted version of the tale to keep his sister safe.
"I want to hear it!" said Scarlett.
"All right…Once upon a time, there were two noble families who hated each other, the Montagues and the Capulets. They used to fight in the streets every day until the king rode in on his horse and told them if there was anymore fighting, he would have them executed. The fighting stopped for awhile, but then, a slurvish young rogue named Romeo, the son of lord Montague snuck into a masked ball held by lord Capulet where he seduced his host's beautiful young daughter, Juliet, who was about your age. He charmed her the way men charmed mother, and she ran away with him, and they got married in secret."
"how romantic!" sighed Scarlett, dreamily.
"But Romeo was evil, cruel, and perverse. When Juliet's dashing, kind, benevolent older brother, Tybalt tried to save his sister from Romeo's clutches, Romeo impaled him with a sword. Juliet was completely brainwashed at this point and fearing that Romeo would be executed, she poisoned herself so that they could die together. But then Romeo broke out of prison before his execution, dug up Juliet's corpse and carried it off into the night. They say he spent the rest of his days in a cave as a hermit, engaging in necrophilia with her and when he got bored with her, he ate her rotting flesh right off her body to hide the evidence. Then eventually he died from eating his own shit after he ran out of meat." Scarlett was shocked and horrified. She didn't know why Romeo would do such horrible things. She decided that Juliet was very stupid.
"Don't be like Juliet, dear sister. Don't let pretty words make you weak. Our prisoner is the son of our mother's enemy just like Romeo was the spawn of the enemy of Juliet's family. Imagine what he'd do to you if he had you in his sway."
"I'll never disobey you like that ever again!" Scarlett threw her arms around her brother, and sunk to the ground in tears. "I was so stupid! I'm never leaving the castle again!"
Hayden stroked his sister's fiery red curls, a troubled expression on his face, trying to school away the remorse he felt for tricking Scarlett. He did what he had to do. She was all he had.
"I know. You're better than that. That's why I'm here to protect you."